


Butterfly

by QuarterPast



Category: Deponia (Video Games)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-14
Updated: 2017-02-15
Packaged: 2018-05-26 18:59:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6251734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuarterPast/pseuds/QuarterPast
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Berry has never left Rufus' side. Major spoilers for Deponia Doomsday and all previous parts. Takes place after Deponia Doomsday/Goodbye Deponia.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Funeral

**Author's Note:**

> AGAIN: MAJOR SPOILER WARNING! Proceed at your own risk.
> 
> So I believe I'm not the only one who's not okay with the end of Deponia Doomsday. While it was an awesome game by any means the end lacks.. something. Okay, but the novel is supposed to start underneath this notice. Summary says it all. Hope you'll enjoy.

"He looks so peaceful."

"Almost as if nothing if this really happened."

"It did happen. Do you want me to write it down or something?"

"Oh shut up."

Goal backs off of Rufus' grave. Careful as to not trip over her black gown. She folds her hands and briefly looks up at the sky. Several weeks had passed since his fall and they were unable to find his body to bury it properly. So a symbol had to do. Something to tell her that this end was real, that he was not going to return.

"You disappointed me so many times over the course of our adventure, but at last all you wanted was for us to survive."

"I was so tired of his antics." 

"Hush! You are genetically identical so you could at least say something nice!"

Instead of revoking his comment Cletus went quiet again and returned to ignoring whatever it was that Goal wanted to say.

All the citizens of Kuvaq decided to attend his funeral. Rufus caused mischief with every step he took in the small village, which was also why most of them found it hard to acknowledge his demise. He left a gap behind that, strangely enough, despite the sudden peace made itself known to everyone.

"He was a good guy, I guess."

"Always good for a surprise. Keeps you fit."

"His coffee was horrible."

"I'm surprised he made some in the first place."

"Please."

"He had a good heart." Toni finally admitted with a deep sigh.

With the help of a few other deponians Goal had built a make-shift cross. It was decorated with bulky toys made from scrap and a few other items laid down in front of it. Gifts from children, as well as a few adults who had an item to spare. A child was currently sitting right besides the small pile and was chewing on a small metal horse.

"He was a hero." 

"An apocalyptic trooper."

"Cletus!"

She'd slapped her almost fiancé on plenty of occasions. Each time she would tell him it was because he said something mean about Rufus and that it was a shame to insult the deceased. This, however, wasn't the entire truth.

After dinner most of the others returned to their worktables or home. They were still busy making room for the elysians and introducing them to their new lifestyle they would have to bear with from now on.

Goal took one of the chairs and moved it up next to the grave. She folded her hands and looked the cross over, seeking. For what, she wasn't sure. He would always knew what to do next. The next step, the next plan, the next line and inevitably the next catastrophe.

It had ended too abruptly to shed a tear. He was gone, from one moment to the other. Lost in the orbit in the sterile cold of an unforgiving environment that had ultimately claimed his life. She pushed a small rubber ball back up onto the pile framing his grave with the heel of her shoe and sighed.

"I have hope, you know." She said firmly. "That's what you handed down to me. You and everyone else lived here for years. So I'm sure we can too. It's.." Goal pushed the very same rubber ball back up, now with more force. Sending it tumbling up to the top of the pile. "..not so bad."

She didn't think she would end up talking to an inanimate object for its conceived purpose alone. Yet she liked to return to the grave once in a while to talk about her day, her thoughts. Ask a couple questions and think loudly about what Rufus would have said, if he had been there.

Of course she would scold him for the trouble that his ideas would have ended up causing. She knew better than to follow his advice. But she was thankful anyhow.

Cletus wasn't fairing a lot better. To his own horror he had to face Goal's wrath for lying to her. Not to forget the angry deponians for trying to destroy their planet. She didn't know where he was currently sleeping or what he got to eat. Whether he was cold at night too or not.

She shuffled again and got up, wrapped up in a patched up and dirty blanket. Perhaps he joined the Organon in their quarters they had set up to house them all. They were rude with some pretty blatant humor, but at least they weren't lazy and helped out where they could. Even if it meant handling mines and other explosives.

The first time she had seen one of them without their masks she had screamed across the whole market place and made the poor guy apologize from how horrified she must have sounded. 

The second time she hit one of them into the face with a heavy wrench. She later claimed it happened by mistake, rather than on purpose and he shouldn't have sneaked up on her like that.

The third time she almost dropped a basket of rotten fruits on top of one of their heads. This time without an apology.

Although her father had explained the case of the clones to her, she threw a fit every once in a while. It only raised more questions. Made her think even worse of her father for planning their deaths so meticulously. Granted they still had each other, but she didn't know whether she could forgive him for this.

She kept herself busy with meeting other deponians. Traveling around and re-visiting the places she had been to with Rufus on their previous adventure. Everyone was happy just knowing that the world was going to keep spinning. Even if they all shared the same fate of living on a large dumpsite.

Life was going on.

Soon enough she realized that Rufus had left his marks on all of them. Ripped through their lifes like a tornado without so much as telling them goodbye on his way out. It was funny and depressing at once to get to know these things. He sure had caused a lot of mischief while she was out cold after the incident with an interrogation robot.

At the debris valley she got to meet a reporter who claimed to be Rufus' biggest fan, which at first she found difficult to believe. The amount of details he could name concerning their adventures, however, convinced her of that. And that he was obviously a stalker.

"So you were good friends I guess?"

"Oh, I wish we were! There is so much that we could have discussed!"

"I bet." Both of them seemed to have reached the same level of insanity. In a good way.

"The blue prints of each of his inventions! So much potential! Not to speak of all the things he did to save you!"

"A headache is a small price for a saved life. Heh."

"I'm so jealous!"

She was staring to feel uncomfortable about Berry's level of euphoria and squirmed a bit in her seat. "Yeah, well I guess you're well off in your own place.. Berry."

"The leg's still healing, but I guess you could say that."

"What did you do with that anyway? It looks awful."

"Fell from a high place. That was pretty nasty, but I just had to see that."

"Had to see what?" Goal asked before she took a moment to think. "..oh."

"Exactly!" The man answered as if going suicidal over your idol was the most normal thing in the world.

"Well, so you know that Rufus also.." It was hard to say it although she had accepted this fact. His death, that there had been no greater plan behind this reckless action of his. That this had been his final maneuvre.

"Oh, yes. Of course." Berry replied. In a tone which sounded much too enthusiastic in Goal's ears still. Perhaps he was really just crazy and that was why he refused to accept it. She fell silent, unwilling to make a second attempt to get that through his thick skull.

"What happened after that was even more amazing though!"


	2. Headaches and raccoons

"After? What do you mean after? I thought Rufus did.. we didn't..."

For some reason Berry didn't answer. He just sat there, looking at her doubtfully.

"What? WHAT happened after?!" Goal demanded to know now, her patience quickly wearing thin.

"Perhaps you want to sit down first. You don't look so good." He replied, gently pushing her down onto a spare chair. It sounded as if it was going to collapse underneath her weight any second.

"Berry." She said, shivering a little from sudden anxiety and wrath fighting to take over the situation. "What happened after that?" She asked again, trying to stare him down.

It wasn't lost on him like it had been on Rufus on many occasions. Luckily the reporter was unable to live up to his idol completely. He cleared his throat and crossed his legs as if to prepare himself for a longer session of storytelling.

"It all started about two decades ago. Rufus was the son of the former mayor of Kufaq and ever since he was old enough to hold a screwdriver he began his career as an inventor!"

"He referred to himself as lots of things."

"I always knew success rates were overrated." Berry continued, choosing to ignore her statement. "After all he made it onto his way to Elysium! Which is also where he met you and.."

"Is there a shorter version of your biography? Seriously, I don't have time for this."

Berry suddenly looked intrigued instead of mad at Goal for interrupting him repeatedly. "A great idea!" He said and stormed out of his office, leaving the door open. Goal turned around and exchanged clueless looks with his chef.

Even after searching for him Goal wasn't able to find Berry again. It was as if the earth had swallowed him up just so he couldn't answer her any questions. Maybe this was his way of going about things that made him mad, she thought. He chose to ignore her.

"Who knew Rufus had such a big fan?"

Doc appeared to be indifferent about the news. Carefully weighing their options and suggesting to just wait for Berry to return. He had a job after all and a boss who would fire him otherwise.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Goal? He probably doesn't know much more than we do."

"Well.. I have reason to think he does."

"What reasons would that be?"

"He said he was there after that incident with him.." She said carefully, bringing her finger tips together repeatedly. "And he said his next move impressed him the most!"

"That's not very convincing." The tinkerer replied doubtfully. "Please don't get your hopes up because of such a vague statement. Rufus fell from the troposphere, which is more than ten kilometers high."

"But we didn't even find him, right? So.."

"He's right, you know." Bozo said softly after remaining silent for most of their conversation. "I don't want to lower your spirits, but.. please don't be disappointed when it doesn't turn out to be what you wanted it to be. Okay?"

"What if it turns out to be a hint? Will you help me?" She asked with a fierce look on her face.

"Of course." Doc said quickly to lighten up the mood. "If there is something we can do we will help you." Bozo nodded approvingly. "Just.. don't overdo it. Okay?"

Goal would hear nothing of that. She was eager to get this Berry to talk. No matter what it would take. Each day for almost a week she returned to the editorial office in hopes of the reporter returning. It only served to encourage her more, as she would make him pay for letting her wait so long.

Eventually the wait made her creative. She was quick to notice that the Organon members shared a bunch of traits with Rufus. Most noticeable their tendency to cause and welcome mischief. Ever since Argus was gone they were technically supposed to receive their orders directly from Ulysses. Practically, they did whatever they wanted to do.

It was a little weird at first. All they had were ID numbers, rather than names. They simply indicated at which point down the line they had been cloned. Goal quickly grew tired of that and decided to name those she was working together with.

There was 527 whom she decided to call Steve and 351 whom she named Norbert. They didn't care too much for her choice of names fortunately. As soon as they heard she wanted to play a prank on someone, they were already all ears. It was probably the most interesting task at hand ever since they were off duty.

The two of them appeared more or less on time of the appointment she had set for them to meet. Perhaps, she thought as she approached them, they were just as much kleptomaniacs as Rufus had been. Either way she didn't ask where the impressive pile of items they brought for them to use originated from.

"A bear trap? Did you also bring bandages I didn't see yet? I need him alive."

"Don't be so fussy." Said Steve. "It's going to be fun, is it not? Besides who says he's gonna make it to the bear trap.."

Goal sighed. "Okay, okay. What is that though?"

"A current reverser! They're always good to have." Said Norbert. She called him that because he was a smartass.

"Yeah. I get where you're coming from with that one. Rope, duct tape, an egg sandwich.. if you don't keep a close eye on it it's probably going to run away on its own."

"Still good to eat."

Goal screwed up her nose. She would just ask mother Bozo for some soup.

"Okay, I get it. We're all well prepared for this. Let's go before I remember I have a sense of smell."

They set up the trap in the office with the permission of Berry's boss. He knew his employee got to the office to get supplies, but he hadn't seen him yet either. Therefore he approved of Goal's idea. Once the deed was done, they backed off to appreciate it and celebrate.

Since they had a whole lot of time to do this every corner of Berry's office was spiked with triggers to their trap. It was going to catch him in a fishing net where they would be able to collect him.

"I hope this wasn't the fun part!"

"Unfortunately, it was. Now we have to wait."

"Jesus.."

As the Organons went ahead to pick up food, Goal went ahead and inspected their work up close. She smiled a bit in sudden nostalgia when she spotted several saw blades attached rather inconveniently to the typewriter. Goal loosened the tape with which they were attached and left them on the ground next to the desk so they wouldn't do any serious damage.

Once she considered the trap to be in order she smiled happily and left the office. She instructed Berry's boss to call her if he would make an appearance - and that he did.

Despite their successful heist the man didn't sound overly enthusiastic. He requested them to fetch a mop before they would come over, because apparently their trap had caused a huge mess.

For some reason the Organons got there before her. Already standing in the door frame and making no effort to cover up their laughter. She pushed past them and frowned. There was ink everywhere. On the floor, on the newspapers and also on Berry and a raccoon that had somehow managed to get tangled up in the fishing net.

It was a really good thing that he didn't have his own personal stash of writing supplies. She slowly circled around him, before she let him down. The raccoon hissed angrily and stormed off. Quickly disappearing in a gap between a trash pile.

"Goal! And.. you guys!" Berry said, laughing nervously. "Hey. That's actually a funny coincidence.."

Goal narrowed her eyes, trying to suppress her anger and failing. "Oh? How so?"

"You know, I was about done writing. I liked your suggestion so I.."

"..ran off and made me wait a week for a continuation? You know who this is all about right?!"

"Of course!" He said reverently. "How could I? Look.." Berry offered a bunch of loosely tied papers to her. "I wrote it all down! My own biography." He said, smiling brightly.

"Uhm.." She wasn't sure what to make of this. It wasn't what she suggested, nor what she wanted. She browsed the pages a little bit and quirked her eyebrow. "This is not really about you, is it?"

"Oh, of course it is! About me observing my idol during his adventures." Berry said proudly. "Later also you, since you joined him as his sidekick. I'm still so jealous."

Goal frowned while Berry kept talking about her adventures with Rufus. Maybe she also became a little nostalgic along the lines, but she didn't come here for to listen to things she already knew.

"Would you." She interrupted him loudly, but as politely as she could muster. "Please elaborate why you ran away that other day? I'm curious."

"Well, I've been getting those odd headaches, so I went to get some pain killers. In the aftermath I'm pretty sure they weren't just pain killers."

Goal grimaced a little and frowned. Illegal substances were much too easy to acquire on Deponia. Especially if you didn't even necessarily want them. They could be found like any other piece of trash.

"Please, Berry. I need to know everything you know. Please?" She pleaded, putting on her best puppy eyes as she sat down in front of him.

"Oh, yes! Now that I've made some notes I'm pretty sure I can get it right."

Goal sighed happily and got comfortable as Berry sat down in a puddle of ink, paying the additional dirt now clinging to his coat no mind.

"Are you familiar with the concept of time travel?"


	3. Aluminium

Goal blinked once, twice. What Berry said was hard to comprehend and much harder to put into any kind of order. If there was one to begin with. 

"So.. Rufus tried to fix everything when the first greater temporal loop began." She spoke slowly, counting the loops Berry had mentioned with her fingers. "He reversed time several times to save his relationship with Toni, which created.. four? Additional time loops."

"Five, actually. I guess you could leave that one out where he went back to eat the potato he originally used as earmuffs for the hunter and then needed to go back to reverse that too."

"Ew. Yes. Well, he failed at saving his relationship with Toni. Next he got stuck on Elysium because the utopians.. I still can't believe that they were talking elephants.. kept reversing time by using that device McChronicle used to travel to Kuvaq."

"It must have been hard to turn a crank without thumbs."

"There he tried to stop me.. " She sighed. "And failed. Did he really blow up Elysium in one of these time loops?"

Berry nodded with a flat expression. "Wasn't pretty."

"So to summarize - it was all a huge mess, wasn't it? Every plan he had failed." Goal concluded unhappily. "And when the other me finally managed to save him it led up to him blowing up Deponia, because of the Fewlocks he somehow managed to bring to live.."

Goal sat low in her chair, frowning up at the sky. This was one of the aspects she liked about not having a roof above her head. "But.." She interfered and shuffled around to sit up straight. "That means time travel is possible! Which means we could go back and.."

"Oh, no no no. Don't you remember how that turned out for him?" The paparazzi added for consideration. "It would only serve to lead to a different, much worse catastrophe. Besides, this technique has not even been invented yet!"

Goal growled under her breath, visibly displeased with this outcome. Maybe Bozo was right and she put her hopes too high. Or maybe Berry would just have to consider that her plan would work much better. She didn't have one yet, but she felt confident about getting the right idea, given an opportunity.

"So that thing that happened after his fall.. when he saw me dead. Was that the life he led before he decided it was better to blow up Deponia?"

She frowned again. This wasn't the kind of story she had been hoping for. "But that was in a different time! This doesn't explain anything."

"I must have mixed that up. Sorry, Goal. There are quite a few outcomes I remember of this." He explained and smiled sheepishly.

The young elysian woman avoided his gaze now and let hers travel through his office. She saw the pile of papers containing his now useless biography, photos for news paper articles and finished articles he cut out of other newspapers.

Finally, she stood up, hardly able to contain her rage. "I'm taking this." She said, grabbed the pile of papers and turned her back towards him. "Good day!"

She chose to examine the papers together with Bozo first. At least he didn't judge her or her idea. Instead he offered warm words of comfort and cautious optimism. Instead of reading too much into Berry's story Goal and him were looking for hints towards the time traveling.

"So that's why he was able to remember our actual first adventure." She said, pointing towards that position in the text. "That's a start." Goal hummed happily as she wrote down the two components of the useful apparatus that apparently protected one's memory from the effects of time traveling: Aluminium and straw.

Bozo murmured something into his beard, before he nodded. "That doesn't help with the actual time traveling, though."

"Yes, yes. We're not there yet." She flipped the pages faster now, nearly tossing them across the floor and out of the attic that Bozo's home consisted of. Something smaller flapped past her face when she moved a heavier batch of papers and Bozo managed to catch it.

He lowered it just enough to look at it.

"What is it?" She asked, taking a small break from browsing the pages for what she considered relevant.

"It's a photo." He replied and offered it to her.

"Huh." At first she didn't get what the photo was on about. It was her - well, an earlier version of herself - and a bowling ball with a dust mop on top. "Maybe Berry took more photos than just this one." She said with new motivation spurring her on.

They did indeed end up finding more photos between the pages. Unfortunately the date and time on them didn't help bringing them into any sort of order. They only made sense in combination with the written text. 

"What's this? Was he.. giving a lecture?" She giggled. Currently distracted by her newest finding. He really went through a lot. "And that..?"

There was an apparatus of some sort on the table in front of the class. It appeared to be a portal. Maybe they found what they were looking for.

"We should show this to Doc. He will know what to do."

Later at Doc's office Goal showed the relevant parts they had found in Berry's biography. A bunch of photos showed more portals out of different angles, as well as devices apparently meant for time traveling.

The elder remained silent while he examined the material. Carefully considering and trying to comprehend what he was seeing.

"We are going to go back and prevent all this!" Goal explained excitedly. "Rufus is going to live and we can find a better way to reach Utopia and.."

Doc soundly cleared his throat. "I really hate to say this, but how exactly do you think you could do this?" He squinted his dominant eye, mustering her. "As far as we know this is what future Goal tried to do after she was saved from her own future, which resulted in her own death."

Goal preserved her smile. Stubbornly defending her point. "My plan is going to be better! I don't have one yet, but.."

The scientist still didn't seem to be convinced. "You are just going to make yourself a target for those time defending utopians, if you return to the past and change anything about it.

"But, I have all the time in the world to come up with a plan! How could it possibly not work? Doc, please.."

"It's too dangerous. You shouldn't kill yourself for someone who sacrificed their life for you. " He replied a bit softer in his tone, mustering her slowly.

A wave of doubts washed over her now. He readily let go and fell to his own death for her and she would bedraggle his memory by following his route. "I guess you're right.." She mumbled, unhappily grabbing at her hair. "He wanted me to live on.. I would do nobody a favour."

"Don't quit just yet." He exclaimed relatively calmly, as he brought a certain photo closer to his face. "The final chapter has not yet been written. This is a very interesting task and I'm going to work on it."

"Oh, really?" She replied hopefully. "But what's the use? I would die trying to save him and then he would blow up Deponia just like he has before.."

"This task, I will have to leave up to you." The mechanic replied, watching her thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?"

"You must remember how this entire mess started. Whatever you come up with, you must be able to do it under the noses of those utopians. Otherwise they are going to hunt you down like they did it with your and his previous selves. Does that make sense to you?"

"What mess exactly? I know why Rufus got found out when he dressed up as Cletus after accompanying me on my way back to Elysium, but.."

"It's not rocket science, Goal. Who wanted Deponia to be blown up? Who was the one that forced Cletus into lying about all this? If this factor were to be removed, there would be no reason for Rufus to save the planet. Whereas he also wouldn't sacrifice himself, or blow up Deponia."

Goal went quiet fast.

"I'm going to take care of this, you are going to take care of the details. Remember, we only have one chance to do it. Once you've gone back there is no coming back. So you must get it right on your first try."


	4. Conspirancy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the longer wait everyone. I had a lot of assignments for university and couldn't really get my head sorted out. Exam phase is ahead of me, too. This chapter has turned out a little flat in my opinion, but I can promise a lot of tension ahead. Also thanks for the nice comments and appreciation~

All around the plan concerning of the destruction of Deponia were countless witnesses and perpetrators Goal could interrogate. First of all Ulysses, her own father. Secondly Cletus who had readily agreed to do the dirty work in order for this plan to work. The latter of the two was now sitting there with her, looking much less concerned than she would have expected.

Although he felt no remorse for his actions whatsoever, he hadn't been left unaffected by their new living standard. Things were dire and those marks were showing all over his exposed skin. Dirt, lack of food and overdoses of expired food alike. 

"Do you have any idea how long ago this was approved of?" Cletus demanded to know. "I asked for your hand and your father agreed, if I took care of the report claiming Deponia was uninhabited. You already know that!"

"Are you sure there isn't anything else? Is this really everything that was going on?!" She broached the subject again, staring him down.

Cletus glared back at her. "You were on the ship yourself, weren't you? I'm sure you probably noticed those 11,000 Organons hanging around on the lower docks."

"Yes and Rufus did a great job in deceiving them."

"Whose fault do you think was their attendance?" He asked now and grinned. The same grin Rufus used to wear when he got what he wanted by pushing someone else over the ledge.

"Yours?" She asked, now looking confused.

Cletus groaned. "No. Why would I want to save those Organons?" He asked, dramatically rolling his eyes. "They're just a bunch of outdated versions of myself." One of those 'expired models' so happened to walk by, making Cletus twitch. "No offense."

"Then.." Goal held her breath, seeming determined. That breath was quickly lost, and she looked upset.

"Yes! We have a winner. This bloke wanted his own part of the cake for the sake of his own army. So he's not as innocent as he claimed to be." A little laugh escaped him.

Goal turned her head away. Even knowing this wasn't very useful and only served to make her even angrier at her father. 

"And Ulysses must have told him that he was supposed to let all his underlings die down on Deponia once he himself ignited the bombs surrounding the planet." Cletus grinned yet again. "What a great idea to just break that to him. Your father isn't so smart after all."

Goal hit Cletus against his shoulder and looked away. "He's not all bad, you know.."

Cletus growled angrily and switched seats to sit further away from Goal. "In that matter he was like Rufus. Reckless beyond reason, but smart."

It wasn't so bad talking positively about persons who had already deceased, Cletus thought. He never liked Argus. Doing business with him however had been a mutual thing.

"He knew what strings to pull to get what he wanted.. and now he's dead along with that other idiot. Good for him."

Goal had started to walk in circles, tapping her forehead in thought. There had to be something she was missing. How far was she planning to travel back in time exactly? She needed a detailed plan to have Doc on board with everything he had. Without him all of this was pretty much pointless anyway.

Cletus remained quiet besides her. He had enough manners not to try and derail her train of thought. Although he still wasn't sure what exactly she was trying to achieve by questioning him.

"Maybe you should lay down a little. Those toxic gasses must be getting to you."

"I appreciate your concern." She said sarcastically. "But I feel perfectly fine. I'll talk to you again, if I need your help."

Goal's conversation with Cletus was a step into the right direction. Clearly as an inspector he wasn't one to make any decisions, but had simply been ordered around. Very similar to the situation of Argus, but not quite the same. 

She squinted down at a plate full of soup. A fish surfaced and stared back at her with its mouth gaping wide open. In the next moment it was already swimming on its back. She muttered a little "eww" and pushed it away.

"You have to eat, dear. Otherwise you won't be able to think straight."

"You mean like your gay cousin?"

Goal liked the Bozos. They carried on as if everything was normal, which it probably was to them by now. Not quite as upsetting. Not quite as hollow.

She curled her lips and used a spoon to throw the fish out of the window. After she took a sip, Mother Bozo smiled softly. "It's not bad, I guess.."

"Tastes a little fishy, if you ask me."

She liked the Bozos. Minus the humor of their grandfather and the recorded laughter.

Since she already interviewed everyone involved into the case to collect critical information, she decided to return to Doc and see how he was doing. Her father had admitted everything without the need of questioning him anyhow. Also it wouldn't be bad to give him an update on how her plan was developing, she figured.

Just from inspecting his lab she could tell he had made some progress. He positioned an apparatus among other devices that looked nearly identical to those they had seen on a photo taken at the university.

"Doooooc?" She hummed as she looked around for him.

The scientist was sitting in a hole next to the apparatus. Busy as a bee equipped with a screwdriver and some more tools apparently needed to build a time machine.

"Goal! Good to see you. How are you doing?"

"Just as good as you, if I may say so myself."

"It's not yet done, but I am optimistic. What did you find?"

"So I spoke to dad and Cletus.. it's clear that my father placed the order for the destruction of Deponia and he was just carrying out his orders."

Doc scratched his moustache, then signaled that he was still listening. When nothing else followed, he sighed, raising his brows. "You know this is not enough for a plan. We need a target in order to change the past. If I knew I would help, but unfortunately.." He shrugged. "That's not going to happen."

"Well, there's Argus who also died after that incident on the cruiser. He was involved to this as well! And-" Goal was growing more enthusiastic as she spoke faster, balling her fists. "He was the leader of the Organons and had a say in all of this! That means, that means.."

Yes, what did that mean? She balked, desperately trying to finish the sentence which so much depended on.

"Goal?" Doc asked carefully.

There had to be a way. They were nearly identical clones and Rufus had done a great job impersonating Cletus. Not even her father had been able to tell the difference between them. She frowned. Nor her.

A frown wrinkle was growing on her forehead and she might have had a stormy cloud hovering over her head as she tried to desperately put those pieces together. Get to a satisfying conclusion, when suddenly everything slowly started to fall into place.

"Rufus! He has to be in Argus place! All he needs is the uniform and.."

"What are you going to do about Argus?" Doc offered for consideration. "As far as I know the Captain of the Organons is not going to surrender so easily. And even if you make it, what are you going to do with him?"

Goal didn't back off even in the light of those obvious flaws of her otherwise brilliant plan. "Rufus will know what to do." She said confidently.

"He tricked himself before, after all."


	5. Big Time Rush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry everyone for this unexpected delay. Life got a little more hectic. Anyways, let's continue! All feedback is welcome.

The next morning was the very definition of gray. With a sky entirely covered in clouds and rain constantly pattering onto the tin roof they used for cover.

Doc still hadn't reported back. All they knew was that he threw everyone out of his laboratory and locked himself in. He needed that to think, he would say. Fulfill his part of the bargain. Of course he couldn't exclude that there may be no way to travel back in time and fix what needed fixing in Goal's opinion.

It felt as if months passed by since they had this conversation. The scientist didn't look very healthy whenever he came by if he needed nutrition, so invested did he have to be into his work. Maybe she just needed a reality check on spotting true passion, too. Despite the others' efforts she remained upset for the most part. Only every so often participating in any activities the citizens offered.

Not even BBQ Thursday lifted her spirits a lot. She was happy when Tony brought her a baked potato, but even a grilled good could only patch so many wounds.

The blonde sighed, lit herself another cigarette and sat down in front of Goal. "What's the matter?" Of course she knew exactly what was going on, but it was her way of making sure if someone was fine.

Goal looked up at her once, then avoided her gaze as she fiddled with the hot potato. It was way too hot to eat it yet and thus she kept pushing it over the table with an improvised fork. She finally looked up at her again and frowned.

"It has been four months since Doc spoke to me about the time machine. So no, nothing is fine. Do you think he can do it? Or is he trying to hide the fact that she can't?" She asked, stuffed a piece of potato in her mouth and began panting frantically to try and cool it down.

"He can." Toni replied so confidently that she earned a doubtful look of Goal.

"Look, Doc is a very skillful engineer. I know that if I see one. I did live together with a sorry excuse of one for far longer than I care to admit." A glare later Goal was back to chewing on her hot lunch.

With a deep sigh Toni put an arm around the orange haired woman sitting next to her. "See it from the bright side. They're working hard on making this possible. Maybe it will take years to realize this even, maybe.."

"Years?!"

"Goal!"

"What?!"

Both of them turned their heads as one of the Organons appeared behind them. Enthusiastically gestured behind himself. "He's done! He did it!" A small pause followed in which all three parties mustered each other with widened eyes. "Well, whatever are we waiting for then?!" Goal inquired, jumped right out of her seat and followed him along.

Left behind without further ado, Toni hesitated with her cigarette in hand. Whether this was going to be successful should be of her concern too. "What do they say? Curiosity kills the cat." She groaned and moved to follow the quirky pair.

A little bit later, all four of them - including Doc - sat around an apparatus in his lab. The thing looked experimental. Nothing like the time machines Berry described. While all three young men and women were highly impatient, Doc had no such motivations. He sat calmly on his desk, scratching his moustache now and then.

"What do you mean you finished this 2 days after I left? Why didn't you tell me?!" Goal demanded to know, half-way to storming across the room.

"I have to admit that this was the easy part, but it was not my most difficult task." He said in an attempt to calm her down. "You mustn't be identified as a foreign body by the Utopians. Otherwise this whole ordeal would have been for nothing."

Goal huffed hard, but eventually calmed down. "So you.. figured this out too I trust."

"Of course! It wasn't easy, but in the end the solution is easy as it will be difficult to execute it successfully. In fact, you are the only one who can do it, Goal."

"..how? Why can't any of you come with me?" She asked, now sounding a little worried.

"This is because unlike our memories, yours can be altered. After talking to Cletus he told me that there are a bunch of backups for your consciousness datasette. We must look for one that fits the time you wish to return to. You will not know anything that you shouldn't be able to remember and fuse with your former self. The Utopians will not know a thing. We're off the hook."

"Hold on. You want to erase my memory? How am I going to remember what I have to do then?"

"This, I have to leave up to you. You must find a way to remember by other means than leaving your memory intact. Have faith in how much you know yourself and find a way to communicate with your previous self."

Goal squinted at him, trying to understand what he was trying to tell her. "That sounds like you're implying that I could communicate via telepathy..."

Doc dismissed her comment though, instead he yelled. "Come in!"

It was Cletus. He entered the lab with a box full of papers and media. He was uncharacteristically ruffled and must've been in a great hurry. After depositing the box on the nearest surface being the scientist's work table he exhaled deeply. "I didn't think we would need these again." He shrieked when he saw Goal's expression though. She'd hated it the last time he messed with her mind for his own benefit. Like hell she was going to let him do it again.

"These lists better not be manipulated or I'm making sure that you will regret it." She growled. 

"No!" He whined. "Look, I didn't touch them in forever!" As if to anger her further, he blew once into the box and sent a cloud of dust right into her face. She coughed viciously and backed off while Doc busied himself with looking through the stuff.

Cletus smirked, seemingly satisfied. This smile quickly vanished though as Toni shook his head at him. She had already gone through the phase of appreciating this more sophisticated version of Rufus. Said affair had ended as quickly as it begun though. He had been left with a vivid memory of how why exactly Toni was the more dominant part of their relationship.

Goal watched Doc with growing worry. They were so close to the beginning of their endeavor. So close to getting a better outcome.. so close to Rufus. Yet, was it going to fail because she had no idea how she was supposed to carry her own message on to herself?  
She let her gaze wander across the lab. A lot of blueprints and pictures of rockets were plastered all over the walls. Bull's eyes instead of proper windows, improvised tools, very few personal belongings and a freezer. Eventually her gaze landed on Toni, who currently busied herself with something different altogether. 

"Could I have that for a moment..?"

A while later the whole crew was there. Bozo and Berry had arrived a little later, as well as few more of the clones. In front of all of them stood Doc who, in comparison, was not even half as tall as any of the others. He held a datasette from which he'd just removed the tag.

"This is the closest we could get to the day at which you and Rufus were on your way to Elysium." He explained. "There is no need to be afraid. You will perhaps be a little confused, but everything will be as it were back then. Nor will you have forgotten us." Once he ended with his part of the bargain, he watched her expectantly. "So, did you figure out a way to communicate with your former self?"

Goal nodded firmly, with no patience to explain whatsoever. "Yes, yes I have." She said firmly.

"Very well." He said and approached her. "This will only take a few seconds. There is a little delay until this new datasette will boot. It will probably buy you some time once you've arrived and it will ensure that you don't see anything that you shouldn't see."

He'd explained this before. Several times already. She was still nervous. There were so many factors to this that could go horribly wrong. Berry gave her a reassuring nod with his faithful camera in hand. Bozo looked less certain, wearing an upset frown. "It will be alright." She assured him and smiled weakly.

"We can't lose any more time. Are you ready?"

"More than ever."


	6. Always

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Goal has finally returned to the past! But how is she going to cope with Rufus?

"Goal!" ... "Goal?" ... "GOAL!"

"Nooo..."

Stretching uncomfortably on the floor, Goal slowly reached out for her forehead. It felt as if she'd slammed it against a firm surface mere moments ago.

"OwowOW! Who said you could touch it?!"

"...so, are you awake?"

Rufus stupid visage appeared in her field of vision as she squinted up at him. She wordlessly extended a gloved hand towards him. This was a hint that he understood and so he helped her up. After getting on her feet Goal tiredly looked around the small chamber they occupied on the Organon cruiser. She blinked at him, trying to piece it together, but she remembered quickly enough.

"You fainted." He stated the obvious and gave her a concerned look.

"So?" She snapped, but quickly held her head as it hurt again. "That happened a number of times now and it never concerned you much. Why now?"

"Because, uh.." Just as she wanted to snap at him again, both turned their heads as their door was opened from the outside. Another Organon checking in on them.

"We heard a noise. Is everything alright in here?"

"She just fell off her chair!" Rufus exclaimed and pointed his finger at Goal, who shot him a quick glare.

The man guarding their door had an unreadable expression - mainly due to his helmet obscuring his face. He snickered a little, but straightened up again. "I'll escort you to a doctor. We can't have you malfunctioning."

"Malfunctioning?! I'm not a machine, you know! You incompetent tw-" She had to cut herself off and ground her jaws violently. For a solid minute they stared at each other, then eventually Goal budged.

"Fine, but my fiancé is coming with me." She said, locked her fingers around Rufu's wrist and proceeded to pull him along.

Not so stupid after all he nodded quickly. "Yes, because a good fiancé should be there for his girl if she's in pain." He said with a smug grin as they walked past the Organon. The man rolled his eyes, praising his luck with shifts.

Once they were left alone in the praxis to await the nurse, Goal impatiently walked up and down along the wall. She felt just fine and she still needed to finish her report.

Rufus touched her shoulder momentarily, distracting her from the task at hand. "I'm sure everything will be alright." She eyed him, raising a brow. Suspicious, she thought as she looked into the opposite direction. And staggered.

"Uhm, Goaaal..."

"What, Rufus."

"You know, that's a pretty funny story. One of the board Clowns decided to come into our room and..."

"Just answer one, easy question."

The man winced, afraid of what she was going to say.

"I passed out on the floor." A nod. Yes, she did hit her head pretty bad.

"That's when you seized the moment." Mhhm. Always one to look for opportunity.

"Took my Sharpie." Goal continued to glare at the mirror and at Rufus gradually stepping further away from her. "And drew on my face?! Rufus!"

They spent several minutes chasing and being chased through the treatment room. By the time the nurse bot appeared with a heartfelt apology, Rufus was laying in a corner, while Goal sat on the cot. Arms crossed.

"You should have a look at him first, he needs it more."

Goal had expected this trip to get a little more eventful than her last one. Albeit they were clones they were distinctly different. She just hadn't expected to be dealing with a serious skin irritation by the end of the day. The black paint was gone, but it had left her entire face flaming red - and itchy.

Now they were sitting silently next to each other. She was fiddling with her journal. He was, surprisingly, not doing anything. Perhaps because her earlier death threat was still hovering in an all too close proximity. Until he forgot that it existed. Now that she had cooled down though she couldn't help but pity him a little.

"I'm sorry for hitting you." She said quietly, glancing over at him.

"Yeah, you should be. That hurt pretty badly you kn- ow!"

"Not sorry." Goal watched him as he tumbled off the edge of their shared bed.

They fell back into their shared silence. Rufus quietly hummed a tune to himself while she finished her report.

The Deponians were alive! Her face brightened up a bit despite the angry red lines framing her features. At first it seemed impossible. Just like Cletus had wanted to make her believe. She was having this no more and the elders would not either.

Eventually she hopped off the bed herself. It was satisfying to fold the letter and wrap it so they could hand it over later. Rufus watched her expectantly. Apparently still unaware of how much this moment meant to her. He opened his mouth to ask, but she cut him off.

"This is a big moment for Deponia." She declared solemnly. "All your friends, the nice people we met, the duckbills and the wombats... will survive!" When he wanted to interrupt her she glared at him. Successfully cutting him off. Of course he didn't consider many of them to be his friends - he had a tendency to spoil things with people who he knew for a while now.

Goal sighed and rolled her eyes with a light smile. Maybe she was also being a little naive again. Thinking that she could bridle him. So far it was working, or wasn't it?

"Most importantly.." She said even quieter as she turned off the lights and sneaked under the covers besides him. "We are going to be together. Forever."

Cletus wasn't actually much of a cuddler. He viewed Goal as a trophy and had handled her this way too. If she'd let him he would've probably tried to put her into a glass cabinet so he could show her to anyone who came by.

Rufus on the other hand - just smelled like him. She'd made him wash up with his cologne and everything so nobody would get suspicious of him. Yet he wasn't quite as cold and clinical. Instead he just budged. Let her have her way with him for now and embraced her lightly. It was a little screwed up, maybe. Things had changed though, hadn't they? He was certainly not going to underestimate her like Cletus did.

The next morning she peeled herself out of the covers and took a few steps into their bathroom corner. She couldn't wait to get back home to finally take proper warm bath again. As she opened up her washbag and removed a few of its contents she curiously raised a brow. "Huh, this is weird..."

She threw a glance over her shoulder at Rufus who was still fast asleep before she took off her jumper. After days of crawling around in mud and trash it smelled a whole lot worse than it did now. It was a mild inconvenience that she couldn't just clean it right now. She hung it up and was about to turn her back on it, when something caught her eye.

"Oh, my..." Taking a deep breath, she tried not to shout. The last thing she wanted as attracting the Organons' attention when she was hopping around the cabin in her underwear. "Rufus!" She hissed. "Wake up!" When he didn't react she yanked the blanket out of his grasp.

"No, just five more minutes..." He complained and tried to turn away from her.

Goal, growing tired of this game real quick, just pulled him up by his arm. Rufus first looked at her, slightly irritated before he turned to look into the direction she was pointing at.

"Holy sh-."

"U-huh."


End file.
